Thunder & Lightnings

Hawker Hunter - Survivor J-4083 (ex N343AX, G-EGHH)

F.58 J-4083 - ATAC, Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport, Virginia, USA

Click for previous survivorSurvivor imageClick for next survivor

Hunter F.58 J-4083 at St. Athan, 12th August 2014; Damien Burke

Built by Hawkers at Kingston-upon-Thames, J-4083 first flew on 11th November 1959 and was delivered to 5 Squadron of the Swiss Air Force on 14th January 1960. She served with 5, 18 and 21 Squadrons and by 1964 had been modified, in common with many Swiss Hunters, to carry both Sidewinder and Maverick missiles.

She was withdrawn from service at the start of September 1994 and in June 1995 was flown from Emmen to Bournemouth to join the Jet Heritage Charitable Foundation fleet there. The aircraft was added to the civil register as G-EGHH with a complete strip-down and rebuild underway, but with Jet Heritage's collapse the aircraft 'disappeared'. A snoop around the airfield at Hurn in late May 2000 found her stored in the open on a non-secure part of the airfield with many panels and the jetpipe open to the elements, though the canopy was covered and intakes blanked. She ended up being moved to the Bournemouth Aviation Museum compound, a little more secure, and was then acquired by Jonathon Whaley as a spares source for his F.58 "Miss Demeanour" in 2006. She moved to St. Athan in March 2012 was it was stripped of parts and was then removed from the UK civil register in August 2014. Her uses as a spares ship has benefited more than just Miss Demeanour, with, for instance, her radar ending up in F.2 WN904 at Sywell!

Rather surprisingly, however, this wasn't the end of J-4083's story... ATAC (Airborne Tactical Advantage Company), based in Virginia USA purchased the aircraft in 2018 who exported J-4083, and fully rebuilt the aircraft. In February 2019, the airframe received a certificate of airworthiness where it joined the rest of ATAC's Hunter fleet as N343AX.
Just three months later, a pilot was conducting a training flight in N343AX with the instructor in another jet flying alongside. N343AX carried out a touch-and-go, but when retracting the gear, the starboard U/C indicated an issue. After lowering the gear again, the aircraft began to lose hydraulics, suffering a leak on the starboard side. The pilot attempted to carry out a no-flap landing, but on impact the starboard gear collapsed, causing the aircraft to veer off the runway.

The aircraft was later examined and it appeared the U/C leg had begun to suffer a fatigue crack, causing a hydraulic leak and resulting in the gear collapsing on landing. Thankfully there were no fatalities.

N343AX was removed from the civil register soon after. It is currently unknown as to what condition J-4083 is in today, or whether it still exisits.

Information on this page current as of 25/10/2024, last updated by Jake

Find other photos of J-4083 on the following sites:

Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net